well intentioned platitudes
by aikotters
Summary: In which Shinichi makes the mistake of helping someone. Part of "the pup chronicles"


_warnings: a/b/o, magic, werewolf!AU, violence, confrontation of sexism and politics, discussion of abortion, non-binary!Shinichi_

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Kudo Shinichi had learned absolutely four things from his parents that have stuck in his lifetime. The biggest and most important one was how to be a meddling nag. Which, as an omega, he knows should come easy to him and he doesn't mind this. There are some stereotypes worth keeping and this is the one he actually needs.

In turn it came harder to Ran, who everyone expected as the girl for her to be weak and helpless and buried in his arms. But she was the alpha and that brought on an entirely different set of expectations. That most everyone cared about but him. That only he cared about because she wasn't ready to, even though he knew it and understood it deep in his bones. He had to know. Male identifying omegas… their lives were weird enough. He didn't really identify as anything, but male pronouns seemed comfortable enough so he took the risk.

Thankfully, Ran didn't care about that either. It was fair, they each had things they didn't care about. Best friends did that, right?

Well, usually. Now, she was annoyed with him. Which was fair. They were supposed to be getting ice cream and going home because her club had run late and he needed to get dinner at some point but didn't feel like eating food so they were cutting through the park for ice cream in a taiyaki. Well they had been until he'd seen a bush move and like a good detective gone to look at it.

"C'mon, Ran, look at her, she's bleeding bad," he said, looking back at the set of bushes and trees and the panting body half out of them. Someone probably would have called an ambulance if they knew there was a werewolf out here in the middle of the evening, that or the police, that or the rough things, the harsh things, the exterminators because people always thought they weren't safe because something had teeth and claws. Humans had teeth and claws but they were just filed down because people were cowards.

(In retrospect, having this opinion should have alerted him to how this situation was going to end up.)

Ran, ever alpha and containing the one brain cell Shinichi abandoned for gallivanting across the prefecture and solving crimes and apparently having all of their common sense, was standing half a meter away and judging him. "It's a werewolf, Shinichi, it'll heal up in no time and be just fine. Stop getting so close. Your parents' plane leaves in two hours and they'll worry." She was also bristling a little because, well at the moment, she was his alpha and he was _her omega_ and seeing him get hurt would send her completely off the rails and she would actually have to claim bite him and all of their parents would kill her.

"'S not like I'm gonna see them off or anything Ran, they said goodbye this morning." He paused. "And don't call her an it, you can tell she's a girl because of the way she's laying down and her tail wagged when I said she. Don't be racist _and _sexist now."

"Lycanthropy isn't racism, Shinichi, we've talked about this."

"That's only because you aren't a werewolf that you're able to say that. Your dad's wrong about this stuff. He barely knows how to peep on idols and piss off your mom."

He didn't even wince at the blow to the head. Even he could admit he deserved that one.

"She could bite you, Shinichi," Ran pointed out with her bag back at her side, and he could tell she was looking away because the wound really was pretty gross, her leg was all kinds of messed up in a way you could tell it had snapped and her middle seemed… deflated. Weak. He sniffed a little and winced.

"You can also bite me, and I know which one has the immediate social ramifications for both of us. If it's me, mom and dad are rich enough they could make it only a big deal socially, which I already fucked up. So."

Ran made one of those "alpha faces", that said _I can't believe I'm required to mate with you biologically, why are you so fucking emotionally compromised about these things in a logical way, you stupid omega _that she thought that she didn't make because she was better than that, but absolutely did because she was fourteen and not better than that. "It's not like I couldn't provide."

"Ran you're not rich, don't do that. And I don't want you to provide for me like that, you're better at other things, like finding dust and swinging your bag at people for being honest with you."

Point proven she swung again. This time he dodged. But he kept looking at the wolf, eyes narrowed, face twitching like he was trying to hold something back. He probably was. He knew this sensation better than most after all.

"Did they take your baby?" he asked the wolf. And in the light of the full moon, the strength of the park around them, he could see what made werewolves beautiful. The wolf was too big to be a regular one, and her eyes glittered, shining with knowing, knowing what he was really asking her.

She blinked once, then twice, and he heard, clear as a bell. _I took my cubs before they could._

It was his turn to blink. "You can talk."

_No. You can hear. And you can heal. I feel it in your hands._

Shinichi went stiff.

_Relax. I won't tell anyone._ Her voice was low and easy. _No one would believe a beta anyway._

"You can hear her, right Ran?"

"No I'm absolutely imagining the telepathic werewolf. Absolutely." Even she didn't sound like she believed it.

_That makes things easier._ She still did not rise. _Your alpha there is right though, I will heal once i'm home. I've been at this long enough for that. That said I need to get there. If you both would help me to the nearby bridge, someone will be there for me. She hasn't been home enough to know anywhere else but that one._

"Uh-" Ran began, the "your alpha" bit making them both wince.

Shinichi shrugged if off. "Sure."

Ran squeezed his cheeks and yanked. "Shinichi!"

Shinichi looked at her with big, guileless blue, wincing at the pain. "What's wrong with it? She's probably registered or they wouldn't let her outside to be in a park at all. Wherever she was to abort would know already and have put her in a basement or guided her to a center. It's not like the 80's anymore, we've gotten a couple more standards. And she hasn't growled or snapped at me so far."

_I did that when I was a child, so I've learned._

"See?"

Alpha stared down omega, who stared back, unlike most, unwavering at the slit of green appearing in aquamarine, at most maybe disappointed in the way she was trying to use evolutionary nature against him. But he was never really disappointed in that, more her lack of intelligence in doing it. Not that he thought she was stupid, really, just… dense. Incredibly dense.

Which even she could agree with every now and again.

Finally, Ran caved. "Fine, but if we get arrested, I'm telling mom not to bail you."

"They'll bail me before they bail you, we have an omega shortage remember? They need me to _reproduce._"

"Don't talk about yourself like that, it's gross." But now she was kneeling beside him, schoolbag left behind on the ground. "Your hands are covered. You're good."

Shinichi nodded, and raised them to the now shivering wolf. For such a calm voice, she had to be in a lot of pain, likely more than he ever experienced once a month, likely more than he could even dream of on a good day. Once again, his hands shone green, soft and earthy smell falling from them and mixing with eucalyptus.

The wolf exhaled, whining relief and wiggling its toes. _Get a lot of practice at that, do you?_

"Something like that I guess."

Only when he was sure her abdomen wouldn't fall out of her stomach area did he stop. Swaying dizzily, he sat back on his butt and groaned.

Omegas had value, and it wasn't just socially, though people would tell them so. It was to the earth, to the magic people had long forgotten in the name of science and progress. Why they called lycanthropy a _disease_ and not a condition, not a disorder, not a person. Why they demanded alphas take on roles they may not have been born knowing or need teaching. Omegas were only educated to appease the masses and not produce stupid, but powerful children. You could be one or the other, not both in people's minds. It's just not done. Or people thought it wasn't done anyway, clearly those scientists were betas and willfully ignorant of how stupidity actually worked.

Ran was already kneeling to help. For someone who was against the whole thing, she sure was willing to make her way into the dirt and help out with the matter while Shinichi caught his breath and tried not to vomit up tree bark. Seconds later, she had the wolf on her back, and really Shinichi almost lost his breath.

"Ran, whatever you're eating at lunch I really have to tell you to lay off," he wheezed, getting her bag and his.

"Oh shove it," she shot back, cheeks pink as roses. "You just need to go outside more and stop kicking everything. You need better arms."

"I see it, I kick it."

_Thank goodness you didn't kick me._ The werewolf was sighing still, as the magic popped and crackled over her fur. _Now, if you'll follow my lead…_

The walk was fairly quick and quiet. It was a full moon, few people were out in the parks on full moons if they didn't want to be eaten. Or bitten. Or…

Whatever the excuse was, people were afraid.

Shinichi wasn't. Maybe he should have been but he wasn't because humans were much more terrifying than monsters to him.

The worst part about this alpha and omega thing was that Ran wasn't even struggling. It was going to be a terrifying high school debut when the karate team snatched her up for the team. At least until everything else broke out but he could help her with that. He would. He absolutely would. He could do that since he couldn't pick up full grown wolves like toddlers.

The city grew over them like an unrelenting shadow. It slowly grew louder and louder, buildings buzzing, people talking on their phones and so on and so forth. All mundane, all useful information. All uninteresting. Still he filed it away. Could be useful down the line.

She led them down to a bridge and then under it, over the sound of honking horns from passing cars and a few brave souls on bicycles. Someone stood in the shadows and the wolf's tail started wagging the closer they got, leading Ran to hiss. "Do-Don't do that, it tickles!"

Shinichi would have laughed at any other time. He was too busy watching the stranger, who sent his nose burning because oh god that was an alpha right there. The sheer pheromone of protective fury and hunger (he didn't think they'd eaten in a while) along with every concerned emotion and wild wild wild and oh shit they could tell what _he_ was, oh shit-

Ran _growled._ Shinichi snapped his head to the left to look at her, at the bright bright green and gold taking over her blue, which objectively was pretty and subjectively not a good sign. She was starting to shake, not with exertion, but protective rage, claiming thrum, nope nope, he was going to put a stop to that right now.

"Girls, girls, we know I'm pretty," he said in the most matter of fact and not wobbly voice, no he wasn't like that. He was better than that. "Now is probably not the time to fight when Ran has a projectile and you have bare hands."

_I'm not a projectile, _he heard tickle the back of his mind.

"She can still throw you. I still don't want them to fight where anyone can see. Ran will never live it down and neither will I."

_Point taken. Shiho, breathe._

"That is rather the _issue_ here." Thankfully the other person's (don't say alpha, fuck your brain, do not think the word alpha Shinichi, Ran is going to be enough of an issue when they get out of here.) "I breathe, I smell that. I don't, I choke to death. Pick one, Nee-san."

_Step back little fey._

"He will not."

"Ran, shut up and put down the werewolf." Gods this was going to be embarrassing later. He was already stepping back because being in the crossfire of hormonal teenagers wasn't fun. It definitely wouldn't be fun in this situation. "You wanna be the one to tell your dad you crashed and beat up someone? Cause I'm not telling him. I'm telling your mom."

Ran looked at him. Her eyes weren't black yet which was a good sign. Omegas attuned to the magic of the world, alphas just… attuned to omegas, which was about as stupid as you expected it to be. Also to the body, obviously. Shinichi hesitated. Did he really want to use that on his best friend? That meant a promise or something and they were both like, in middle school? Ran's parents would ruin that for them and it would ruin Ran and that wasn't allowed. Still, he had to do something.

"Ran," he repeated, softening his voice, lightening it up a little. "Put down the werewolf. It's not like I'm off meds or anything. My clothes aren't ripped, she's way over there, I'm fine. She was just surprised. You need to calm down."

"I do not!" But her eyes were turning blue again, and she was already lowering the wolf down. Embarrassment flooded her face. "Sorry."

"It's all right." The other girl's voice made it clear, no, it actually wasn't, what the hell is going on? "Do you mind explaining why you have my sister with you?"

_They found me after my transformation. The procedure took longer than I thought it would. Stop worrying so much._

"You're the one in a precarious situation, not me." But still, the smaller shoulders relaxed. Her eyes, which had been shining a little in the dark, seemed to dim and she stepped out, hood high over her face. "Thanks for looking at my idiot there."

_Rude._

Ran smiled and now that the wolf was off her back and the unnecessary cat fight over with, she looked much more friendly and much less homicidal. "It's okay I had to look after mine."

"I'd be offended if we weren't sharing brain cells." Shinichi forced his shoulders down and moved back to the side of the wolf. "How are the legs?" he asked her, moving now that they were in the darkness (semi-dark, but he'd spent long nights in barely lit rooms, he was fine.)

_I should be able to manage. Thank- what the hell are you doing?_

"Checking the rest of your body," he said, continuing to run his hands over her flank and towards her head. "In case there's anything messing with your legs. If I can feel it I can, hey hold still! You're a wolf, I'm hardly going to do anything."

The girl stared, eyes burning a little. "Your idiot's a pervert."

"He's not," Ran defended, though her cheeks were flaming pink. "I honestly don't think he thinks about this kind of stuff."

"Not all of us have a dad with bad hiding places for porn magazines, Ran."

Her face flamed. "We only found them once!"

"Exactly. Hey stop squirming, you can't even stand up!"

The wolf glowered at him. He couldn't even hear her voice, only little noises of discontent.

"You cannot be offended now, I patched you up a little." Shinichi crossed his arms. "How about some gratitude here?"

"Jaws to yourself, Nee-san, he's right." The girl stepped out of the gloom and knelt beside her. They both earned a low growl from the wolf, who looked between them in betrayal. "I told you to wait a few more days before going. You're reaping what you sow. We should be lucky the- that he's careful."

Ran whistled. "Ooh you dodged a bullet there."

"I'm sure from here I can still dodge you."

"Can you two not kill each other for a second?" Shinichi exhaled hard. "I think I've found something."

The girl regarded him. "Such as?"

"Nothing serious, I think. But it's not medical. Probably magical. Wind maybe? Or…"

The werewolf moved, in jolting lurches she was on her feet, eyes burning. She was growling, snarling, puffing up with pain and rage, even her tail was about the size of her head as she twitched and shuddered.

"Ran," Shinichi said hoarsely. "You two need to get back now. Hey, you, she said she was a beta. Is that true?"

The young woman tsked, likely irritated at the complete dismissal of hierarchy. "A beta. Why?"

"Okay," he said and he made to step around the snarling creature that was starting to twitch. "If that's the case, if you're the pack alpha and she's not-"

"Get to the point, Shinichi!" Ran barked, her fists raised, legs splayed and ready to pounce. Or punch or something.

"Her original biter-claimer-thingy is trying to get a hold of her and 'cause they're not pack it's not working!" Shinichi would yell at her later, this was serious and the super technicalities were only obvious to him because of his mom. "But like, that's why people usually pack with their bites! It's supposed to be consensual."

"It wasn't," said the other girl.

"Kinda figured! That's why I'm saying step back, too many god damn-"

"Shinichi!" Ran shouted.

And that was when Shinichi noticed he was bleeding.

It didn't hurt really. Not like real injuries hurt. He couldn't even see the wound, in fact. His wrist surely shouldn't be _that red_, right? But it was bleeding and there was blood on the wolf's-

Shit.

That was when the pain hit.

He still had a hand but he'd decidedly rather not have one because his entire arm was starting to burn with pain and he didn't want to touch it. His knees buckled and he fought with them to stay upright.

Ordinarily, a wrist bite wouldn't be too much cause for alarm. Omegas healed quickly, it was part of their allure for impatient alphas who didn't know how to keep themselves under control. But a werewolf bite… well, he wasn't quite sure why he still had a hand.

Then came the real pain, the soft throb of his heartbeat coming to life and growing louder and louder, burning and burning and then an absence of something.

The wolf snarled. Ran leaped in front of Shinichi, crossing boundaries he knew she wasn't supposed to and helping him stand on shaky legs. The world began to blur and he cursed.

"Ran," he whispered.

"I've got you," she said simply, which was cute but not what he was trying to say. Stupid alphas and their inability to let the lower caste talk.

"Leggo, Ran…" he said instead, which came out as such a whine he was going to get teased.

"You're bleeding, I won't. Besides, that girl is trying to pin the wolf right now, you'll break their concentra- oh no. Shinichi, where's your phone?"

Shinichi squeezed his eyes shut, trying to make the world stop spinning. "Coat pocket…? Why?"

"Cause the wolf just bit her." Ran was already dialing, her other hand firm on his shoulder.

Shinichi opened his eyes and the world was crystal clear. And there was the other girl, quivering in pain, blood seeping from her leg. And the wolf, pinning her by the arms and snarling.

"Nee-san…" she wheezed.

Shinichi made a quiet noise of disbelief. Not that this could happen, but that it was. That it was happening before his eyes and he was just sitting here, panicking. Like an idiot.

_No, _he told himself, even as the panic bubbled at his throat. _No._

Shinichi closed his eyes and breathed in-

"Shinichi no!" Ran snapped, going to grab his wrist.

And breathed out.

Within seconds, the air filled with the sound of bells and the smell of lavender. The world grew still, silent.

It had started to rain, the moon obscured by clouds, the night even darker. But the bells remained, the smell remained.

The werewolf growled at him, paws digging into her sister's arms. She grimaced and raised her head, smacking it into the snout. The werewolf leaped back, whining loudly and shaking her head.

_I…_ Her thoughts slurred.

"You need to run," Shinichi managed to say, knees shaking again. "I gotta stop soon or I'll have ten alphas baying for my skin. So hurry up! Run!"

The werewolf looked him in the eye, both bright blue and dotted with red.

"Go," croaked her sister.

Then she ran, leaving the three of them, and the scent behind.

The girl's shoulders sagged and she dropped back to the ground. Shinichi passed out right after her.

Ran, once the smell and sound had left her and she wasn't at maximum exposure, muffled a snarl between her teeth.

This was why her best friend was an _idiot. _Now he'd… now he would…

There was no hiding Shinichi was an omega anymore. Now he was an omega werewolf. And he had offered his _scent_ to them as a matter of trust.

Their parents were going to be _pissed._

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**_A/N:_ **Yes it's crack, no I don't care, fight me! My friends and I are often arguing the stupidity of the omegaverse so here I am, trying to make something coherent and mostly nonromantic about the whole thing... with werewolves! Also ngl this is probably the most of omegaverse you're going to see most of the time. This is mainly a werewolf au for some ya'll! Look forward to the next installment of "the pup chronicles". See you then!


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